Corporate Responsibility in Social Disorder

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses corporate problems (i.e., mass layoffs, high CEO payoffs, discrimination in the work force) and examines how they are ultimately responsible for many of our social problems (i.e., crime, suicide, alcoholism, domestic violence etc).

From the Paper:

"What is a corporation? While there are numerous definitions floating around, I think that a corporation most clearly can be defined as an invention of the state. That is, the state grants a corporate charter, upon request by an individual or group of individuals, which permits private financial resources to be used for public purposes. One of the main advantages to an individual incorporating their business is in doing so they protect all of their personal assets and only that portion of the money that is invested in the corporation is at risk. In other words, creditors of the corporation cannot come after the individual s private home and money to secure payment for the corporation s debt. Sounds like a good deal, right? Well, during the early years after the ratification of the United States, many believed that the granting of corporate charters would assist in the expansion of the state in which the corporation existed (Shah). However, not everyone was in favor of granting corporate charters and viewed them as having the ability to attain great power. wayside. In fact, one of the biggest victories for corporate power came in 1886 when the United States Supreme Court declared that a corporation was an individual and was, therefore, entitled to the same rights as a person (Shah). The Supreme Court, in reliance upon the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution which was enacted to protect the rights of freed slaves, ruled that a private corporation is a natural person under the United States Constitution, thereby entitling it to all the rights afforded to citizens of the United States, including the right to free speech (Robbins 100). The ramifications of such a ruling are still felt today. By allowing corporation s this right, we have effectively allowed them to influence government by lobbying legislatures, use of the mass media, establish educational business schools, and donate money to political candidates. In essence, the corporations are allowed in all walks of government influence and have more power than an individual citizen who could never compete with the wealth and power of corporations."

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